As computer technology has advanced, the role of computers in our daily lives has expanded, as has the need for various peripheral or supporting devices. One typical peripheral device used with computers is a printer, which generates a hard copy of data that is used by the computer. The types and capabilities of printers available has similarly been expanding, resulting in a wide variety of printers with a range of printing capabilities, performance, and price.
One problem that has emerged in recent times concerns printing documents that have grayscale portions, i.e. portions that are neither pure black nor pure white. Specifically, many times grayscale (and color) does not print at a sufficient or desired resolution. In addition, individuals will sometimes desire for their printed document to be printed only in pure black and pure white with no grayscale or color. Yet, if the document contains gray, shaded areas, or color areas, it will inevitably result in a rendered document with grayscale portions. As a result, the user is left with a less than desirable printed version of their document. In these instances, it would be more desirable to print documents in black and white, without any color or grayscale representations.
Against this backdrop, one significant expansion in the use of computer technology is the networking of computers together. Networking computers together allows the computers to communicate with one another as well as with other devices, such as printers. As computer networks, such as the Internet, continue to develop, there is an increasing demand for additional and improved functionalities that draw upon and exploit the full computing potential of computer networks.
Accordingly, this invention arose out of concerns associated with providing methods and systems for converting imaging data such that printed versions of the imaging data have only black and while portions and no grayscale representations.